Have the child use a graphic organizer when completing a writing task: The child may be able to answer direct questions well, but they will struggle when it come to answering essay questions or writing reports. The student may need to be told very specifically what information needs to be answered in the report.
Add to the child’s message by paraphrasing and expanding on it.
Avoid open-ended oral questions when possible: Ask specific questions instead. Remember when designing tests that essay questions alone may not accurately reflect this child’s knowledge of the subject matter.
After reading a story or watching a video, help the student reconstruct the essential elements: Have child draw pictures of the important scenes and put them in order with captions under each picture. This will help the student when asked to write or talk about the story/video.
Allow ‘thinking time’; monitor external pressure when latencies occur: The normal latency between a question and response is 2-4 seconds. That is not enough time for a student with an expressive language problem to organize his thoughts before responding.
Limit timed activities and performances: This type of activity adds further stresses to the student with expressive language problems.
Allow the student to use note cards when giving an oral report: This allows the child to organize his thoughts beforehand and will facilitate fluency of ideas in oral speech.
Model correct language: Identifying a specific target, e.g., irregular past tense, and reflecting it back to the student after every incorrect use will encourage development of appropriate grammatical structures.
Discuss the listeners' need for clarity and ask specific questions to fill in missing information: This will help the student become more aware of the skills involved in providing complete information.
Don’t make assumptions concerning the student’s knowledge and understanding of abstract words/relationships: Discuss word associations, categories, similarities and differences, synonyms and antonyms, attributes and multiple meanings.
Strategies
Add to the child’s message by paraphrasing and expanding on it.
Avoid open-ended oral questions when possible: Ask specific questions instead. Remember when designing tests that essay questions alone may not accurately reflect this child’s knowledge of the subject matter.
Allow ‘thinking time’; monitor external pressure when latencies occur: The normal latency between a question and response is 2-4 seconds. That is not enough time for a student with an expressive language problem to organize his thoughts before responding.
Limit timed activities and performances: This type of activity adds further stresses to the student with expressive language problems.
Allow the student to use note cards when giving an oral report: This allows the child to organize his thoughts beforehand and will facilitate fluency of ideas in oral speech.
Model correct language: Identifying a specific target, e.g., irregular past tense, and reflecting it back to the student after every incorrect use will encourage development of appropriate grammatical structures.
Discuss the listeners' need for clarity and ask specific questions to fill in missing information: This will help the student become more aware of the skills involved in providing complete information.
Don’t make assumptions concerning the student’s knowledge and understanding of abstract words/relationships: Discuss word associations, categories, similarities and differences, synonyms and antonyms, attributes and multiple meanings.